Luka Pavićević ( sr-cyr, Лука Павићевић; born 17 June 1968) is a Montenegrin professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and former player. Most recently, he served as the head coach for Alvark Tokyo of the Japanese B.League. A

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

, Pavićević played basketball between 1982 and 2003. During his playing days, he played for Budućnost, Cibona, Jugoplastika / Pop 84, Proleter Zrenjanin,

Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

, FMP, Beobanka, Soproni Ászok,

Espoon Honka 237px, Petteri Koponen with Espoon Honka in 2007 Espoon Honka, also known as Honka Playboys, was a basketball club based in Espoo, Finland and it played in Korisliiga. The club was dissolved in 2011 due to financial difficulties. History Espoon ...

Anwil Włocławek Anwil is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Sissach (district), Sissach in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. History Anwil is first mentioned in 1276. Geography Anwil has an are ...

, Rabotnički, and

Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

. He retired as a player with Crvena zvezda in 2003. In three seasons with Jugoplastika, he won three European Champions Cup championships ( 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91), three Yugoslav League titles ( 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91), and three

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

tournaments.

Early life

Born in Titograd, young Luka grew up in the neighbourhood of Preko Morače where he attended the

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

Elementary School. His

construction engineer Construction engineering, also known as construction operations, is a professional subdiscipline of civil engineering that deals with the designing, planning, construction, and operations management of infrastructure such as roadways, tunnels, bri ...

father Božidar had a stint as a director of the Republički zavod za urbanizam i projektovanje (RZUP) state-owned urban planning enterprise while his mother Nedeljka worked as a

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental doctor, dental physician, dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry, the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. The dentist's supporting team aids in provi ...

orthodontist Orthodontics (also referred to as orthodontia) is a dentistry specialty that addresses the diagnosis, prevention, management, and correction of mal-positioned teeth and jaws, as well as misaligned bite patterns. It may also address the modificati ...

. Inspired by a documentary called ''Maestro'' about the Yugoslav basketball star player

Dragan Kićanović Dragan Kićanović (; born 17 August 1953) is a Serbian and Yugoslav retired professional basketball player. A tall shooting guard, Kićanović played in the 1970s and 1980s, and is considered to be one of the best European players and scorers ...

—produced by

Yugoslav television Yugoslav or Yugoslavian may refer to: * Yugoslavia, or any of the three historic states carrying that name: ** Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a European monarchy which existed 1918–1945 (officially called "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" 1918–1 ...

and aired as part of its

1980 Moscow Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

coverage—Pavićević took up

streetball Streetball (or street basketball) is a variation of basketball, typically played on outdoor courts and featuring significantly less formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players ...

at age 12 via joining ballers gathering daily on the concrete court in the city's Njegošev Park. Marking himself out as a quick ball handler capable of competing against significantly older individuals, the teenager caught the eye of KK Budućnost's head coach Čedomir Đurašković who invited the youngster to join the club.

Club career

KK Budućnost

Joining Budućnost in 1982, young Pavićević was immediately attached by coach Đurašković to the full squad. The fourteen-year-old point guard thus became the youngest ever player to appear in a Yugoslav top-tier league game, surpassing

KK Šibenka KK, K.K., kK, k.k., or other sequences of two k's with or without punctuation may refer to: Arts and media *KK, the production code for the 1967 ''Doctor Who'' serial ''The Faceless Ones'' * "KK" (song), a 2014 song by Wiz Khalifa * Kk. or Kirk ...

15-year-old shooting guard

Dražen Petrović Dražen Petrović (; 22 October 1964 – 7 June 1993) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s with Cibona and Real Madri ...

's late 1979 record.

Coaching career

After retirement in 2003, Pavićević joined

OKK Beograd Omladinski košarkaški klub Beograd ( sr-cyr, Омладински кошаркашки клуб Београд), commonly referred to as OKK Beograd, is a men's professional basketball club based in Belgrade, Serbia. They are currently competin ...

as their new head coach. Afterwards, he coached

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

, Hemofarm,

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis''), ...

Alba Berlin Alba Berlin is a professional basketball club that is based in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1991, and is today the largest German national basketball club by membership figures. Alba Berlin hosts its home games at the Uber Arena and c ...

and

Chorale Roanne Chorale Roanne Basket is a professional basketball club that is based in Roanne, France. The club plays in the first division LNB Pro A. Their home arena is Halle André Vacheresse. The club was founded in 1937 and the team's colors are blue and w ...

. In November 2015, Budućnost hired Pavićević as their new head coach. In March 2016, he parted ways with Budućnost. In June 2017, Pavićević was named as the head coach of Alvark Tokyo of the Japanese B.League. He won two Japanese B.League titles ( 2017–18 and 2018–19) and

FIBA Asia Champions Cup The Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia), formerly the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, is an annual continental club men's basketball competition organised by FIBA Asia. It is the highest level club competition for basketball in Asia. Introduce ...

title in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. In June 2022, he parted ways with Alvark Tokyo.

National team coaching career

Pavićević was the head coach for the Serbia and Montenegro under-20 team at the 2004 FIBA Europe Championship in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and at the 2005 FIBA Europe Championship in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. His team won a bronze medal in 2005. In August 2011, Pavićević was the head coach for the Serbia University team that won a gold medal at the

Summer Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

, China. In December 2011, the

Basketball Federation of Montenegro The Basketball Federation of Montenegro (Montenegrin language, Montenegrin: Košarkaški Savez Crne Gore, KSCG / Кошаркашки Савез Црне Горе, КСЦГ), is the governing body of basketball in Montenegro. It operates the top ...

named Pavićević the new head coach of the Montenegro national team. On 22 September 2014, he parted ways with the Basketball Federation of Montenegro as the Montenegrin team coach. In April 2015, the Islamic Republic of Iran Basketball Federation named Pavićević the new head coach of the Iran national team. He parted ways with them later that year. In November 2016, Pavićević was named as part of the technical committee of the

Japan Basketball Association The is the governing body of basketball in Japan. Formed in 1930, it is based in Tokyo. The JBA is a member of FIBA and FIBA Asia. The federation is responsible for the Japan national basketball team and the Japan women's national basketball te ...

, and was named interim head coach within the month following the end of the tenure of previous head coach Kenji Hasegawa. He left head coach position in 2017.

Career achievements and awards

As player: * European Champions Cup (Euroleague) champion: 3 (with Jugoplastika: 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91) * Finnish League champion: 1 (with

: 2000–01) * Yugoslav League champion: 3 (with Jugoplastika: 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91) *

winner: 4 (with Cibona: 1988, with Jugoplastika: 1990, 1991, with FMP Železnik: 1997) *

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup (; ) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League ...

winner: 1 (with

: 2001) As head coach: * Japanese League champion: 2 (with Alvark Tokyo: 2017–18, 2018–19) *

champion: 1 (with Alvark Tokyo: 2019) * German League

champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

: 1 (with

: 2007–08) *

German Cup The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundes ...

winner: 1 (with

: 2009) *

Montenegrin Cup The Montenegrin Cup (Montenegrin language, Montenegrin: ''Kup Crne Gore'') is the national football cup played in Montenegro, established in 2006. The winner of the cup is awarded a spot in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League ...

winner: 1 (with Budućnost: 2016)

Head coaching record

, - , - style="background:#FDE910;" , style="text-align:left;", Alvark Tokyo , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , 60, , 44, , 16, , , , style="text-align:center;", 2nd in Eastern, , , 5, , 5, , 0, , , style="text-align:center;", Champions , - , - style="background:#FDE910;" , style="text-align:left;", Alvark Tokyo , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , 60, , 44, , 16, , , , style="text-align:center;", 3rd in Eastern, , , 6, , 5, , 1, , , style="text-align:center;", Champions , - , style="text-align:left;", Alvark Tokyo , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , 41, , 32, , 9, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Eastern, , , -, , -, , -, , , style="text-align:center;", - , -

References

External links